Religious Wars- By: Brandon Kruse and Josh Limaye



Bloody Marry-
The year 1533 marks the beginning of the rein of Queen Marry I, also known as Bloody Marry. As a young adult her parents had their marriage annulled. During this process she was deemed illegitement and deprived of her status and her heir to the throne. After once again receiving her status and heir, she was in the running for queen but was quickly ruled out once her brother Edward received the title as king, but she quickly was reconsidered after Edward’s untimely death. Now the only thing standing in her way was her cousin, Lady Jane Grey who she quickly beat out for queen and had executed to prevent any type of power struggle. Some consider this the beginning of her murderous reign as queen. As queen her main goal was to reconvert England to a Roman Catholic nation which many believed was fueled by the idea that if her father stayed true to his Roman Catholic ways she wouldn’t have been periodically deprived of her heir and title. After marrying Philip II of Spain she quickly fell into a depression after constant neglect from Philip because she was unable to bare children. She eventually died of ovarian cancer at the age of 42 ending her bloody reign. After her death her half-sister took her place as queen and reverted back to a lot of England’s old ways causing a lot of unnecessary bloodshed.
Fronde-
Directly following the thirty year war in the year of 1650 was the Frond of France. The Frond was a series of revolts and conflicts in the French government revolving their continuously suffering economy. The word Frond means sling which were used by protestors to break the windows of government leaders, figure heads, and supporters. It is believed there were three main reasons which led up to the Frond. First, the Parliament of Paris tried to limit the power of King Louis XIV. Secondly, the nobility was threatened by the king and wanted more of a voice in the government. And lastly the people were unhappy with the tax burdens they had dealt with under Cardinal Richelieu and Cardinal Mazarin. The frond originally began when of Austria and Cardinal Mozaren asked governmental officials for financial backing for the 30 year war. This would require the government to give up 4 years of finances which was expectedly rejected. With this, the Cardinal and Anne had all political leaders arrested whom opposed their campaign. This of coursed cause an up rise and revolt. During this time Prince de Conde, a highly reconized general in the 30 year war joined there campaign pushing for funding. Once Louis XIV was old enough to except full responsibility of the throne he quickly used his power to put a stop to the revolt. Cardinal Richelieu was arrested and the shamed princess of Austria reconciled with the government. Prince de Cond however led an open arms attack against Louis XIV where he was quickly and easily defeated. This marked the end of the Frond war but France’s economy continued to steadily decline.
Thirty Years War-
The Religion Wars of Europe last from 1559 to 1648 but the Thirty Years War lasted from 1618 to 1648. This was one of the most destructive times in European history. These wars were fought in primarly what is today known as Germany and throughout most all other countries in Europe. There is no single reason for the cause of all this fighting and destruction, when the war started its thought to be believed that the main war was between Protestants and Catholics in the Holy Roman Empire. But as the war progressed it turns out to be not a war over religion anymore but just to see who claims more power, the Bourbon or Hasburg powers. Major impacts and decreases in the population of the time period were do to so many of the religious wars and out breaks of disease during these religious war times. The first phase of this thiry year war was the Bohemian revolt. Mathias the king dies and a new king is elected and this starts the whole revolt. The religious conflicts from Moravia and the Prostenants and Catholics spread throughout Europe into France, Sweden and a number of other countries throughout the area. Danish Prostenant areas feel threatened from the great success of the Catholics. By spring of 1635 most wars had ended in Germany and the Peace of Prague was put into place. Which meant that there would be peace everywhere in Europe. But France and Sweden kept fighting in the end Sweden was pushed back by Emperial armies. Wars start back up in 1636 and sides gain no ground in peace treaties until 1645 when Cardianl Mazarin starts to try and end the war. The end of the war was brought by two treaties, The Treaty of Munster and The Treaty of Hamburg. These treaties were signed five months later on October 24th, 1648. The results of the wars were the weakening of Spain, the centralizing of Germany and taking away power from the Holy Roman Empire.

external image 30_years_war_in_germany.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty_Years'_War